Readings:
Jeremiah 31: 31-34
Psalm 51: 1-13
Hebrews 5: 5-10
John 12: 20-33

Collect:
Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know external peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Reflection - Finding The Way

In our bible study on Wednesday 17 March, we discussed Jesus’ declaration in John 14:4 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. We discussed the meaning of this declaration and what it means to us as Christians, especially around the choices that we make every single time. The immediate import of this verse of the bible is that there different ways of doing things, there are the right ways and there are the wrong ways and it is exactly the same when we think about our relationship with God – there are ways and there is ‘The Way’ to come to God. 

Jesus is saying here, we cannot have the right view and the right relationship with God unless we come through him as the way to father, hence the reason why the early Christians were called “the followers of the way”. My view is that the same tag is still applicable today as it was in the early days and we need to ask ourselves thus, how should being the followers of the way impact on our every lives? 

We live in a world where choices abound about our daily living more than anytime in human history, there are more items on the supermarket shelfs, on demand TV programmes than we can watch in a life time, more career path than in previous generations. Similarly there many options when we make decisions that imparts on our spiritual lives, decisions that determines whether we are `living life for ourselves or living life for Christ. Decision that determine if we are living according to human standards (many ways) and of if we are living according to the standard of the kingdom of God (The Way).

As followers of Jesus Christ therefore, we cannot do things because it is popular, because it is the ‘in thing’ or because it is politically correct, rather we are to live ours in conformity with what pleases God and in keeping with his will. What I’m saying here is that being a Christian or follower of ‘The Way’ is no longer what we declare with our mouths only, but what we declare with the choices that we make every day as we live out our lives, so that based on our decisions, people may know that we belong to Christ. This mean that we are letting our actions speak louder than our words, so that we are not just  hearers of the word of God only but also the doers of the word.

We must remember that just as we are faced with the dilemma of making choice, other people around us are also facing the same dilemma. We are being told that the growth of Christianity is dwindling, but on the other hand research have shown that more people than ever are seeking spiritual direction; which indicates that there is an arching void in the heart of many people that is yearning to be filled. It indicates that people are trying to find God in different ways.

Jesus said I’m the way, the truth and the life. Are we prepared to help the people of the world find ‘The Way’ out of the many ways available to them? Are we prepared to live our lives in such a way that our lives bears testimonies that will attract others to Jesus Christ? Are we prepare to live our lives so that people of the world may se e our good works and glorify our Father in heaven? Are we living in such a way that we draw people to Jesus Christ the way, the truth and the life?

Adedayo Adebiyi